By MunyaradziDoma

 Zimbabwe has closed 48 health facilities across the country this year for various violations, including operating without registration and employing bogus practitioners.

The facilities were closed with the assistance of the police, HPA Secretary General Clotilda Chimbwanda said on Thursday.

Chimbwanda was speaking at the HPA, Medical Rehabilitation Practitioners’ Council and Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Council Annual General Meeting in Harare.

She said some facilities were being operated by people without medical training, while others were not registered with the authority.

“This year alone, up to date, we have closed 48 facilities, and these closures have been done through the police.

“There are a number of reasons for these closures. Some of them involve bogus practitioners. These are practitioners who have not trained, or non-medical people who are carrying out medical work, which is in contravention of Section 126 of the Act,” said Chimbwanda.

She said the authority had also encountered unregistered rehabilitation centres, particularly those claiming to offer treatment for drug and substance abuse.

“In one of the facilities that we went to, it was a two-roomed facility, and when we inspected, there were 20 patients. There was no running water at the facility, so the people were bathing at a stream which was at the back of the house,” she said.

Chimbwanda urged members of the public to verify whether health facilities are registered before seeking treatment.

“You will see that we have tried to put in the newspaper a list of those practices that are registered with the Authority, so that people can know which facilities to go to,” she said.

She said even some registered practitioners were operating facilities that were not registered with the HPA.

“Registration is important because we inspect the facility and make sure that it meets the minimum standards so that we can protect citizens,” said Chimbwanda.

She warned that some unregistered facilities were also offering unorthodox treatments under conditions that could put patients at risk.

“Some of them do not even meet the required standards. Some of them do not even have running water.

“This is a danger to the patient. It is a danger in terms of infection control. It is also dangerous because we have someone who is not a medical professional carrying out medical activities and they do not know what they are doing.”

Chimbwanda said the consequences could be severe, including loss of life.

“The outcomes can be very negative, and we can even lose lives. So that is the danger that it poses,” she said.

She also raised concern over beauty treatments being performed by people without medical training, saying some procedures require qualified health professionals.

Chimbwanda said the HPA had found a hairdresser working in a pharmacy and administering intravenous drips to clients seeking skin-lightening treatment.

“For example, we went into a pharmacy and found a hairdresser who was giving drips. These drips were meant to lighten the skin.

“This is a non-medical person who is injecting someone with a substance that we are not aware of. They do not have what is required to be able to save that person.”

She said the HPA was not opposed to the expansion of health services but wanted new facilities to meet the required safety and professional standards.

“Let me first say that, as a regulator, ours is not to prohibit expansion. Ours is to facilitate. We want to play a facilitative role.

“Ours is to protect the citizen, make sure that they get the right care and make sure that we have universal health coverage.”

She said facilities opening across the country should meet the minimum standards required for their respective services.

“We are just talking about minimum standards — to say, for a hospital to be called a hospital, what should it have? For a pharmacy to be called a pharmacy, what should it have?”

“That way, when a patient goes in, they have that assurance when they see the HPA certificate that this is a facility that has been inspected and that they will be taken good care of,” added Chimbwanda.